The benefits of sustainability are powerful and compelling: lower energy use, lower costs, less waste, less detrimental impact on the environment, and — because products are designed to be more efficient — better results meaning hospital energy savings. Indeed, healthcare facilities that have embraced Camfil Farrair filters have seen decreased HVAC energy costs — often by 15 and 30 percent — while seeing increased air quality. Yet many hospitals have yet to embrace sustainability because they worry about changes that might be necessary to their infrastructure, and what it would cost. The experience of a major university medical center, however, shows that the energy savings and benefits of sustainability can often be reaped without extensive or costly modifications.

Indeed, by using Camfil Farr 30/30 air filters, this medical center discovered that it could see significant improvements — both in savings and air quality — without having to redesign, and rebuild, its facilities. The traditionally designed air filters it had been using didn’t operate efficiently under the hospital’s conditions, where high humidly (due to the hospital’s geographic location) and less-than-ideal architectural factors (like the design of the air ductwork) put strain on the filters, and required them to be changed often. Redesigning the infrastructure would have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars — an expense that was simply out of the question.

Camfil Farr proposed that the medical center start a trial pitting its 30/30 air filters against the product the hospital was currently using, Flanders Precisionaire high-capacity panel filters. In these tests, the Camfil Farr filters — built from the ground up for sustainability, with a radial pleat design that means a longer, more effective service life than traditional air filters that degrade quickly — didn’t need to be changed for eight months. That was a 400 percent improvement over the two-month life of the Flanders air filter. In all, the medical center estimated the savings in filter change-outs alone to be $1,000 per air handling unit per year.

Little wonder, then, that since that initial test, the university has been purchasing Camfil Farr 30/30 air filters for the entire medical center complex, a campus made up of multiple buildings. While the filters cost more up front, the long-term savings have been significant — and they’re continuing still.

The Camfil Farr air filters showed, too, that sustainability can pay off in a multitude of ways. Because the air filters last longer, they need to be replaced less often, which means less waste (and lower disposal costs). That was good news for the hospital — and for the world around it.

*The world leader in air filtration systems and clean air solutions — for health care and other industries — Camfil Farr provides the tools to achieve sustainability, maintain high air quality, and reduce airborne infections; all while lowering total cost of ownership. We’ve helped hospitals, office buildings, hotels, and other facilities go green without ever sacrificing performance. For more information, visit our newsroom at http://breakingnews.green-air-filters.com, read about energy savings with the Clean Air Solutions Company at http://green-air-filters.com, or call us at (toll free) 888.599.6620.